| Cascade Falls | |
|---|---|
 Cascade Falls, looking down | |
| Location | E. B. Jeffress Park, Wilkes County, in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina |
| Coordinates | 36°14′58″N81°27′16″W / 36.249341°N 81.454337°W Coordinates: 36°14′58″N81°27′16″W / 36.249341°N 81.454337°W |
| Type | Cascade, slide |
| Total height | More than 250 ft [1] |
Cascade Falls, also called "The Cascades", is a waterfall located at E. B. Jeffress Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, United States.
The waterfall is located on Falls Creek. It begins with a small free-fall before cascading and sliding down the rock face. [1] The water here eventually ends up in the W. Kerr Scott Reservoir and the Yadkin River. Like many other falls in the northern North Carolina Mountains, the falls are high, but limited in water.
The falls is located in E. B. Jeffress Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 271.9, 4.4 miles north of where U. S. Highway 421 crosses the parkway at Deep Gap. [2] The easy-to-moderate loop trail begins at the north end of the parking area for a total loop of approximately 0.8 mile. The trail, which includes educational material concerning local wildflowers and other plants, such as mountain laurel, descends 50 feet to an upper overlook and another 200 feet to a lower overlook. The upper overlook allows the visitors to see approximately 20 feet of cascades above the overlook and a long slide below the overlook. The lower overlook allows a different view of the slide. [1]
The lower section of the falls is no longer accessible from the trail. A scramble path used to be available, but damage to the plant life and the banks of the stream resulted in the construction of a fence to restrict further access and potential injury to both the falls and to visitors. [3] [4]
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for 469 miles (755 km) through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 (US 441) on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48 (SR 48), though this designation is not signed.
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